We have revisited our Google Drive add-ons’ chart we published last year and added few more categories to the list. More specifically, we added Drive tools for creating educational visual content, tools for working on PDFs, and collaborative mind mapping tools. Our purpose is to provide teachers with a collection of notable apps to help them extend their Drive activities to include functionalities not provided by the default Drive features.

One reason a parent might not read the classroom newsletter is that it is not about their child. Here is a solution for creating weekly newsletters for parents that are individualized for their child. Newsletter Templates http://tinyurl.com/newslettertemps Add the above Google Drive folder of newsletters to your Google Drive. You can make copies and use …

When using technology I like to ask the question “How does this make learning BETTER?” Not just digital or more colorful but BETTER! The activity of sorting words by definition was never a critical thinking task. It is DOK 1. Students remember the definition and classify the word based on the definition. One problem with a Word Sort on paper is the lag of time between students sorting and getting feedback. The gap between completing a task and when students receive feedback impacts the level of learning. Tomorrow is too late. To be most effective the feedback should be as immediate as possible, especially with things that have a single right answer. We don’t want students to practice wrong. If it is just graded and not given feedback or a chance for students to reflect it is pretty much busywork.

One of the most common problems teachers face when integrating technology is keeping kids focused and accountable. It can be really challenging to get kids to listen to directions once they’re on their devices, and hard to make sure they’re focused on the assignment when there’s so many other things they can be doing online. …

When I first built our Epic LEGO wall back in Sepetember 2014, I had no idea how much the concept would resonate with people. Since then, I’ve seen dozens of amazing LEGO walls and variations of LEGO walls (including several in Canada!). I’ve seen people create mobile walls, walls that can covert into tables, LEGO circulation desks, LEGO endcaps of shelving units. It’s amazing.

But while my original post goes into all the details of creating one, it doesn’t offer much on maintaining one. In the two and half years that I’ve had my LEGO wall, I’ve had to repair baseplates several times, so I figured it was time to make a tutorial. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial to help you repair a loose baseplate:

The current generation of students has grown up with technology and uses it in every aspect of their daily lives and for many, this will include the jobs they will be pursuing. Equipping students with the skills they need in life outside of school and beyond the makerspace, is an powerful component of the Maker Movement. An often overlooked but necessery skillset for those students who will be pursuing careers related to the themes in your makerspace, such as electricity, engineering and design, is leveraging advancements made in digital tools available on their personal devices.

As a librarian in a BYOD high school, in addition to providing opportunities for my students to use their mobile devices as a creation tool, I also promote the idea of using their personal devices as a toolbox. As a result, in our makerspace, we have a BYOT (Bring Your Own Toolbox) initiative. This initiative was spurred by a conversation with our school electrician, who one day was doing work in our library, and instead of using physical tools, we spotted him using tools on his smartphone. He emphasized how important devices are now to those in skilled trades.

The experiential learning opportunities offered in makerspaces are one of the most valuable tools we have for prepare students for the workforce they will be entering into. We as maker educators need to create new ways of learning to help to build a better workforce. Stocking your makerspace with tools and supplies can be very beneficial, but for our stdents, their most powerful tool, might be right in their pocket!

Below are some of our favorites. Click on the image for FREE downloadable sign to help you kick off a BYOT initiative in your makerspace!

In case you haven’t noticed, animated GIFs, those moving pictures that are almost like videos, are ruling the world. It’s not enough anymore to just have a cool image in your presentation; you need to engage them with a little animation. Better yet, GIFs offer an excellent way to show step sets to help teachers and students learn new skills!

In a surprising announcement this morning at the Australia Moot, founder Martin Dougiamas announced the launch of MoodleCloud, free Moodle classroom hosting for educators worldwide.

The service will provide educators around the globe the ability to sign up, create courses, and host their classes online for free all on a current Moodle version without needing their local IT staff or administrators to setup a site or fees for hosting.

The official free course hosting launch is a welcome service for Moodlers who for years have used a slew of “freemium” Moodle hosting sites which have suddenly pivoted, languished versions, or slowly become defunct due to latency or lack of a sustainable business model (see a list here).

While the site is not designed for running a MOOC or larger course (users are limited at 50) it does come with free access to BigBlueButton web conferencing for up to 6 users at a time, potentially a great resource for online tutoring sessions and live instruction.

Have your students get to know one another by sharing with their classmates their favorite things and what they did this summer using these fun tech projects! 1. Fakebook Invite your students to create a fakebook. The site is easy to …

Last Monday, my teaching partner Melinda Shaughnessy offered to share her Minecraft selfie idea with me. Since I was just introducing transformational geometry to my students, I thought this would be a great way start. I left my supply teacher instructions to have my students self direct their learning; to research transformations, watch instructional videos and…

We have been receiving several requests from some of our readers asking for educational apps to use on Android devices. The chart below is a good place to start with. This is a work we have published in the past and features a number of curated educational Android apps to use in your instruction. The apps are arranged into multiple categories from note taking to editing videos and creating portfolios, this collection is absolutely worth bookmarking for later reference.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.